The Cave
by Hannahfour
Summary: Guthrie and Heidi are tired of their brothers always laughing at them when they go bear hunting. In this story they set out to bring one home to prove they really can catch one. But does the cave turn out to be more than they can handle?
1. Chapter 1

**I hope you enjoy this third story, please review. :)**

"Guthrie, I can't see you!" I call out in the darkness. "Where are you?" I yell. I cough a little as the dust begins to settle. I need to find my flashlight. I had dropped it when we slipped on the rocks. Why isn't Guthrie answering me? "Guthrie! Please answer me. I'm scared!"

* * *

The day had started out like any normal Saturday. I awoke to the sun shining on me through the small round window in my room. I could smell the bacon being cooked downstairs in the kitchen. I could hear my brothers up and getting ready for the day. I knew one or two of them were probably already out checking on the herd, and Ford was probably out in the barn feeding the chickens.

I stretch and get out of bed. "Morning Heidi," Hannah says as she walks by my room. "Morning," I say smiling at her.

I love Hannah. I didn't at first. She married my brother, Adam, a little while ago and it was hard for me and my other six brothers to get used to her, especially hard for me and Brian, but we did. Now we all like having her around. She's a part of our family now.

I hop out of bed and close my door to get dressed. My room is really small. It's just big enough for my bed, a small dresser and a chair that I throw my stuff on when I don't feel like putting it away. I wear what I wear on most days, a plaid shirt, jeans, cowgirl boots and a baseball cap. The cap is from UC Davis, where Crane went to college.

I make my way downstairs to the kitchen where there's lots of commotion going on. Orange juice is being put on the table, Brian is cooking pancakes at the stove, and Hannah is putting plates on the table. Brian says, "go hit the triangle Heidi."

I head out the back door to the porch and go over to the big triangle hanging from the porch ceiling. I pick up the beater and ring it. I can see Adam and Daniel out with the cows on their horses as they lead them over to the barn and Ford comes running in from the barn.

Everyone comes in and sits down at the table and we start passing the food around. Hannah asks what everyone is doing today and everyone starts talking at once.

"Hold it!" She yells. "One at a time, please," she says smiling at all of us.

Evan says he has his rodeo class today. Adam, Brian and Crane have a fence to fix on the north pasture, and Daniel is taking Ford and Hannah into town after they drop Evan off. "And what are you two up to today?" She said, smiling at me and Guthrie.

We look at each other excitedly and then we both yell, "we're gonna go bear hunting!"

My brothers start to laugh. "You know you guys 'never' catch one!" Evan says getting up and taking his dishes to the sink. He hits Guthrie's hat on the way over.

"We will this time, Evan!" Guthrie says.

"Yah!" I add. They never think we'll catch one. "You just wait, you'll see."

They're all still laughing. "You know bears only go in their caves at night!" More laughing.

"And what are you going to do with it when you catch it?" Brian asks. Guthrie and I look at each other and shrug our shoulders. We hadn't ever thought about that.

"Well, just make sure you two don't go too far this time. Last time it took us over an hour to find you." Adam says. At least he's not laughing at us.

"We won't. We're going out past the south pasture" Guthrie says. "Besides, we're taking the horses this time."

"Bring some rope with you and don't take your eyes off them." Crane says to us.

"Oh we won't!" I say.

Hannah smiles and says, "I'll pack a lunch up for you two."

"Thanks Hannah!" We both say. And with that everyone is up and clearing off the table.

* * *

Guthrie and I head over to the barn. We've got our lunches, water, flashlights and BB guns. We bring the guns in case we run into a mountain lion. My brothers think that's funny, but we don't care. We go exploring a lot and we try to always be prepared.

Once we're in the barn we get the saddles for our horses. My horse's name is Lucy. She's a light sandy brown color with big white splotches all over her. I can put her saddle on by myself now so when Guthrie and I are finished we each get a rope for our horse so we can tie them to a tree. We pack our stuff on the back of our saddles and get on our horses. We head out to the south pasture.

We have a lot of land on our ranch. It even goes up into the high country. But today we're heading out behind the south pasture where there's a rock outcropping that we think has a cave. We thought we saw one there last time we were out there but we had to head back home because it was getting late.

We gallop out towards the big oak tree in the middle of the pasture. It takes us a while to reach it. As soon as we're there we lead our horses to a nearby stream and decide we should give them a little break. "Let's climb the tree," Guthrie suggests.

"Ok. But lets not stay here too long," I say, "we don't want to run out of time."

We start the climb up. We've climbed this tree many times. We're really good climbers and can almost reach the top.

"Guthrie, what are we going to do with the bear if we catch it?" I ask.

"Maybe we could bring it home to show Brian and everyone else we caught one," he said.

"We could tie a rope around it and walk it home," I say.

"No. I don't think it would come. Besides, some bears are really big and when they stand on their back legs they're really tall. Taller than us. I don't think we could get the rope around him." He said.

"We could make it follow us by giving it some of our lunch," I say.

"Yah, we should do that! I bet it would follow us then!" Guthrie said.

We reach as high up on the tree as we want to go and look around. We can't see the barn or house anymore. This is the only tree in the middle of the pasture. The rest are just outside the fences. Once we reach the barbed wire fence we have to get the horses over and then we go downhill until we reach the river.

"The horses look rested enough. Let's go," Guthrie says.

We scramble down and get back on the horses. We ride them out to the fence. Guthrie jumps off his horse and walks along the fence looking for a break that we can open and close. He finds one and leads his horse out and then I follow. Guthrie closes the fence and gets back on his horse. We head on down to the river.

Once we're there we let the horses drink and then we search around for the rock outcropping. There are lots of trees, rocks and brush around but it doesn't take us long to find the area we're looking for.

We find a strong tree at the base of the rocks that's close to the river and tie the horses to it. We bring our lunch, water, BB guns and flashlights and start the climb up.

The climb is easy at the bottom. It's not really a climb until we reach the middle. Then we have to be careful. The rocks get larger. The rocks are slippery with cowgirl boots on. I slip a little and Guthrie helps me up. Now the rocks are bigger and he helps me get up most of them. It's tiring work and we stop to rest. We look up and I think I can see a cave. "Do you see it?" I ask Guthrie.

"Yah, I do. I bet there's a big bear in there!" He says.

"Guthrie, do you think it's sleeping in there?"

"I don't know, maybe. Maybe there's cubs in there too!"

"That would be cool! We could bring them home too! Just think what Brian's face would look like if he saw that!" I laugh. "None of them would laugh at us about bear hunting anymore, that's for sure!"

"Guthrie I'm hungry. Should we eat our lunch?" I ask.

"Let's eat yours and save mine for the bears." He says. We sit and eat my lunch and rest a little before getting back to the climb.


	2. Chapter 2

We don't have much farther to climb. We're pretty high now. I can see the horses down below and they look so small. The cave isn't at the top of the rocks but it's close to it. Guthrie really has to help me now. I give him my hand and he helps pull me up the bigger rocks. We finally make it to the cave.

The cave opening is just a little bit taller than us, and it's just wide enough for one of us to fit through at a time.

"I'll go in first," Guthrie says, "and then you follow behind me."

"Ok," I say. We're really excited now. "Guthrie what are we gonna do if there really is a bear in there?"

"We'll, if there is one it should be sleeping. Let's go in quietly so we don't wake it," he says.

"Ok," I whisper.

We turn our flashlights on and Guthrie quietly goes into the cave. I follow him.

The opening to the cave is more like a tunnel. It's a small tunnel. The walls are made of smooth rock. I shine my flashlight above my head and the ceiling is smooth rock too. It gets dark quickly so we need our flashlights. I shine mine on the ground so I can see where I'm going. The ground is also rock. I follow behind Guthrie.

"Wow!" Guthrie yells as he reaches the end of the hallway.

"What? Do you see a bear?" I yell excitedly.

"Shh. Remember we don't want to wake the bears," he reminds me. "Look," he whispers.

It's dark so we can only see with our flashlights but I can see we are standing in an open area that looks like a big room. We could probably fit our whole family in here. Even our horses. The floor of the room is dirt. We shine our flashlights all around but don't see any bears. We can see some small bones in the corner so we know something's been living in here.

"It looks like a squirrel skeleton," Guthrie says. "Maybe a fox lives here."

"No. This place is to big for a fox. I bet it's a bear," I say.

"Heidi, bears eat fish and berries. Not squirrels," Guthrie reminds me.

We keep looking around. At the other side of the room there are some rocks that form a ledge that kind of reminds me of a loft.

"We should climb up to see what's up there," Guthrie suggests.

"Ok. But you have to help me," I tell him.

I shine my flashlight on the rock ledge so Guthrie can see while he climbs up. I give him my flashlight and then he leans down to help pull me up. I climb up as best as I can and he only needs to help me a little bit.

The ledge is big enough that probably three people could lay down on it. But there is no wall at the back edge. Instead there's a tunnel.

"Guthrie, it's really dark in here. Should we keep going?" I ask.

"Let's go in a little further. There has to be a bear in here somewhere," he says.

We walk in the tunnel. It's a small opening that gets wider as we walk along. It opens up to another room that is smaller than the first one. At the back wall there is a huge pile of rocks. It's a pretty tall pile. Maybe about ten or twelve feet tall. It's basically a huge pile of rocks that form a small hill. We shine our flashlights on it and we can see there's another opening at the top.

"I bet the bear's in there," I whisper.

"Let's go up," Guthrie whispers back.

I don't need any help climbing up the pile of rocks because they're smaller. The rocks are a mixture of sizes. The biggest is about as tall as me and the smallest are the size of basketballs. We have to be careful when we step on the smaller ones because they slip easily.

It's hard to see though, because I need to use both hands to climb up in some places so Guthrie and I take turns shining our flashlights on each other.

As we're nearing the top I can feel some of the smaller rocks starting to give way. Guthrie shines his flashlight down on me.

"Be careful Heidi," he says. He is higher up than me.

"I am. But some of these rocks are slipping," I say to him. Just then my foot slips and I fall a little bit. My chin bumps a rock and I can feel it get scraped.

"Are you ok, Heidi?" He asks. He shines his flashlight down on my face.

"Don't shine it in my eyes!" I say, covering them. He lowers the light and I feel my chin and it feels a little wet. "I think my chin's bleeding."

Guthrie shines his light on it and says, "it looks like a scratch. Does it hurt?"

"No, it just stings a little. I'm ok. Let's keep going." Guthrie and I are used to getting scrapes and bruises.

"Guthrie, how are we going to get down this?" I ask as I shine my flashlight down to the bottom of the rock pile. It looks like a long way down.

"We'll just climb down I guess." I shine my flashlight back on the rocks for Guthrie and he reaches up and grasps the top of a rock the size of a watermelon and starts to pull himself up. As he does the rock gives way.

Guthrie's feet slip and he starts sliding down into me. He yells, "watch out Heidi I'm falling!" I scream and I feel him try to grab my arm as he's falling, and now we're both sliding down fast! Lots of the smaller rocks are falling with us. I can't stop. I try to grab onto something but I can't see. The rocks are scraping me as I'm falling. It hurts and I know I'm going to have lots of scrapes and bruises.

When I reach the bottom I lay there for a few seconds. It's dark.

"Guthrie, I can't see you!" I call out in the darkness. "Where are you?" I yell. I cough a little as the dust begins to settle. I need to find my flashlight. I had dropped it when we slipped on the rocks. Why isn't Guthrie answering me? "Guthrie! Please answer me. I'm scared!"

I feel around for my flashlight but I can't find it. Then I hear Guthrie. He's moaning. I crawl on my hands and knees over to where the sound is coming from. I'm crying by the time I reach him.

"Are you ok?" I can feel his arm now. Guthrie is laying down.

"My head hurts a little." He tries to sit up but moans and lays back down.

"Guthrie do you have your flashlight?"

"No, I can't feel it. You need to find it." I feel around for it but I can't find it. I start crying harder.

"Heidi, stop crying. We're going to be ok. Keep looking for a flashlight."

I try to stop crying but I can't completely. I reach around in the darkness and I feel a flashlight. I turn it on but it doesn't work!

"Guthrie it's not working!" I cry.

"Try shaking it."

I shake it and it turns on. It's dim but at least it works. I shine it on Guthrie and he looks bad. I can see his forehead is bleeding. He tries to sit up again and this time he can.

"Try to find the other flashlight Heidi."

I stand up and shine my flashlight around looking for it. I finally find it lodged in between some rocks. I pick it up and turn it on. It works and I give it to Guthrie. He shines it on me. I can see my shirt is ripped on my arm. I've got scrapes all over. There's a hole in the knee of my jeans and my knee is skinned pretty badly. It stings a lot. So do the other scrapes I have all over me.

I shine my flashlight on Guthrie and he looks just as bad as me. It looks like he has a big cut on his forehead.

"Guthrie, your head is bleeding."

He rips the sleeve off his shirt. "Here use this."

I take it and scrunch it in a ball and try to wipe the blood off.

"No, hold it on the cut. That will stop it from bleeding. Hannah told me that," he says.

I hold it on. "Guthrie I'm scared. My scrapes hurt. I want to go home."

"I know, me too. We should get back." He tries to stand up but his leg is hurting him. "I can't bend my leg Heidi!"

I sit and cry. "I want Adam! And Hannah, and Brian, and Crane, and Daniel, and Evan, and Ford!"

Guthrie stands our flashlights up on the ground so they shine up towards the ceiling. They create a soft glow in the room. "Heidi, don't cry. Please," he leans over to me and puts his arm over my shoulders, "I want them too, but right now we have to get out of this cave."

"How are we gonna do that! You can't even walk!" I yell.

He takes my face in his hands and lifts it up. "Yes I can. I think I can. I'll try." He gets up and tries to walk. It's hard for him, but if he drags his leg he can move. "See. I'll get us out of here."

"I'll help you," I say. I get up and pick up the flashlights. Guthrie leans on me. I try to pull him but he's too heavy. I keep trying and eventually we make it across the smaller room and through the tunnel.

Now we're on top of the ledge in the big room. "Guthrie, you had to help me get up this. How am I going to get down?" I ask.

"Turn around and lay on your stomach and slide down slowly until your feet touch the ground," he says. "I'll stay up here and help lower you down."

He tries to kneel down but it hurts him too much and he can't do it. I cry. "Heidi you can do it," he says trying to encourage me.

"I'm scared. I don't want to fall."

"You have to do it."

I turn around and lay on my stomach. I slide myself slowly down the ledge. I can't feel the bottom. I'm scared of falling. "I can't do it!" I cry.

"You're almost there! Look!" He shines his flashlight and I look down. It looks like I have a foot or more to go. "You have to jump Heidi!"

I don't want to but I know I have to. I squeeze my eyes shut and jump. I wobble when my heals touch the ground first and I fall on my bottom.

"Are you ok?"

I open my eyes. "Yes, I think so." I get up and I don't think I have any new scrapes but maybe a new bruise.

Guthrie throws me one flashlight and then the other. I stand them up like he did in the other room so there is a soft glow in the room. Then he lays on his stomach and slides down the ledge. He just misses touching the ground by inches so he doesn't have to jump, but instead slides down carefully. He hobbles over to a medium-sized rock and sits on it.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"Yes, I just need to rest for a little bit."

I go over to him and he makes room for me to sit by him.

"Do you think Adam's going to be mad at us?" I ask.

"I don't know. I don't think so. It depends on if they have to come find us. I think we'll be able to make it back in time though." He doesn't sound very convincing. "Let's get going."

Guthrie gets up slowly and I can tell his leg is hurting him bad. I pick up the flashlights and give him one. I help him get across the room to the tunnel that leads to the opening. Guthrie uses a wall of the tunnel to lean on to help him get out. When we reach the opening and get out he finds a place to sit.

I sit with him and we look around. What we had climbed up earlier today looked massive to us now.

"What time do you think it is?" I ask.

"I don't know. Maybe mid-afternoon." Guthrie sighs.

"We'll never make it home before dark." I say.

"I know."

We sit there resting. My scrapes and bruises are really hurting now. I start to cry again, softly. "I wanna go home."

Guthrie gets up slowly. "Let's get going." He says quietly.

"How am I going to get down. These rocks are so big! And you helped me get up!" I'm crying loudly now.

Guthrie puts his hands on my shoulders and looks in my eyes. "I'll help you. Don't worry."

"You can't! You're too hurt!"

Guthrie hugs me. "Let's try, ok?"

"Ok." I say, hugging him tighter.

"Ow, you're hurting me a little, Heidi."

"Sorry," I whisper. I let go and we get up and look for the best spot to start climbing down. Going down is going to be a lot of sitting, sliding and jumping. Guthrie helped me up and I don't think I can go down without help, but I have to try.

I find the easiest spot for me but it still looks scary. I sit down and start to slide slowly, but I lose my grip and fall down to the next rock. I land on my side and re-scrape my elbow. It stings bad. "I can't do this Guthrie!" I cry. And I sit down and cry.

Guthrie tries to come down too but his leg is hurting too bad. He has to slide down on his stomach and slowly lower himself down to me. We move over a little to where there's a little bit of dirt and we sit down on it and lean against a rock. We can see our horses way down below and I wish we were down there and on our way home.

"Heidi, we have to stay here."

"Ok. We can rest a little and then start again." I wipe the tears on my cheeks.

"No. We have to stay here and wait for someone to find us." Guthrie puts his arm around me and we look at each other. "My leg hurts really bad. I think it's swollen." I start crying again.

"I can climb down and go get help." I say looking at him.

"No. Remember Adam always tells us to stay together. They'll find us Heidi. They always do."

"Are they gonna be mad at us? Adam said he doesn't want to come looking for us."

"They won't be mad when they find out we're hurt." He puts his arm around me. "We just have to wait."


	3. Chapter 3

It's cold now. We finished Guthrie's lunch a while ago. The sun is going down. Guthrie thought it would be a good idea if we sang songs, but neither one of us really wanted to, so we only sang one.

Then we just sat and waited.

* * *

"Guthrie! Heidi!"

We sit up. "They're here!" I shout jumping up. We look down at our horses and can see Adam and Brian riding up to them.

"We're up here! We're up here!" We shout, waving our arms in the air.

"Are you guys ok?" Adam yells up.

"Guthrie's leg is hurt. He can't walk and I need help climbing down." I yell down to them.

"Brian, go back to the house. Tell Crane to bring the jeep to the south pasture. Get the boys to come and get the horses, and tell Hannah to have her first aid kit ready when we get there."

Brian rides off and Adam starts the climb up. "Hang on you two." He yells up.

We watch him climb. We're sore. Guthrie is really quite. I can tell he's in a lot of pain. It's almost dark.

Adam reaches us and I leap into his arms. "Hey," he says giving me a big hug, "you ok?" He asks. I nod. "I have a lot of scrapes and bruises that hurt but I'm ok." I tell him.

He puts me down and kneels down to look at Guthrie. "Hey buddy, you ok?" Guthrie nods and points to his leg. "It hurts."

Adam looks at his leg and smiles at Guthrie. "You're gonna be ok. We're gonna get you home and Hannah will have you patched up in no time."

"How are we gonna get down?" I ask.

"Well, we're going to sit here and wait for your brothers to come," Adam says. He sits down in between us and puts his arms around us. I climb in his lap. I'm shivering and he's warm. He has his big blue puffy jacket on and he takes it off and wraps all three of us in it as best as he can.

"What happened?" He asks.

"We fell inside the cave." Guthrie tells him.

"Yah, we slid down a bunch of rocks!" I tell him.

"Hmm. Did you see any bears?" He asks us.

"No." We both say quietly.

"Maybe you will next time." He says giving both of us a squeeze.

"Sorry, Adam," Guthrie says weakly.

"For what? There's nothing to be sorry for Guthrie." Adam puts his hand on Guthrie's head. "I'm just sorry we didn't find you guys sooner," he says.

"We're you mad that you had to come find us?" I ask.

Adam gives me a squeeze, "don't you worry about that," he says and kisses the top of my head.

It's almost dark. "How are they gonna find us?" I ask.

"Well, they'll bring flashlights and I'm sure Brian left a marker on the fence where we came through." He says.

"You're never gonna let us go bear hunting again, aren't you?" Guthrie asks.

Adam sighs, "oh I don't know about that. Lets just concentrate on getting you two home."

We're silent then. It's chilly out, the sun is almost gone, I'm hungry, and my scrapes and bruises hurt. I snuggle up next to Adam and he sings softly to us. It's a song mama used to sing to my brothers when they were little and it's a song they sing to me now. It makes me feel better.

* * *

"Adam!" We hear Brian yell out.

Adam stands up and whistles. He shines my flashlight down. "Up here!" He yells. We can't see anything down there because the light is too weak.

"Hey Brian!" Adam yells, "you and Daniel climb up here and help me bring Guthrie down. Evan! Ford! Get the horses back to the barn."

"All right you guys," Adam says to us, "not much longer now."

I can hear my brothers talking and I can see the bright beams of light from their flashlights. I hear Evan and Ford lead the horses back to the barn, and Brian and Daniel start the climb up.

* * *

Adam and I stand up as they get nearer. Adam puts his jacket on Guthrie. Brian and Daniel stop just below us. "Heidi, Daniel's going to help you down. Brian give me a hand with Guthrie." Adam says.

It's cold without the warmth of Adam and his jacket. Adam lowers me down to Brian and he takes me in his arms and gives me a big hug while he kisses the top of my head.

"I'm so glad you guys are all right," he says. I nod my head. Brian gives me his puffy red vest jacket to wear. It's really big on me but its nice and warm. Brian passes me over to Daniel. Daniel gives me a hug and says, "lets get you down these rocks."

Daniel's flashlight is bright. He helps guide me down by climbing down each large rock first, and then he turns around to face me and holds my hand so I can kind of slide and jump down. I can hear Adam and Brian above me helping Guthrie down. It looks like they are trying to lower him down.

Once Daniel and I reach the middle of the rocks I don't need much help, but I don't want to let go of his hand. When we reach the bottom Daniel shines his flashlight on me.

"Wow! You've got a lot of scrapes and bruises," he says, "but Hannah will have you patched up in no time."

"Daniel, I was so scared."

He hugs me. "I know, I bet you were. What happened?"

"We slipped down some rocks in the cave. Daniel? I'm really hungry and tired." He picks me up and carries me over to a rock where he sits and holds me. He sings to me softly. I love the sound of his voice. We sit and wait for Guthrie to come down.

When Guthrie is finally down Daniel carries me over to the horses. He gives me to Adam and climbs up on his horse. Adam lifts me up so I am sitting behind Daniel. I wrap my arms around him and hug him tight. Adam gets on his horse and Brian lifts Guthrie up so he's sitting in front of Adam. Adam holds on tight to Guthrie so he won't fall off. Brian gets on his horse and we ride our way along the river until we see the lights from the jeep at the top of the hill where the break in the fence is.

Crane is waiting at the fence with the jeep. We get the horses into the pasture and Crane helps Brian get Guthrie off Adam's horse and they carry him to the jeep. Adam gets into the jeep and Brian lifts Guthrie to Adam in the back seat. Daniel carries me over to the jeep and lifts me into the back where Adam is sitting next to Guthrie.

"Daniel, get our horses back to the barn," Adam tells him. Brian jumps in the jeep and Crane takes off. He's driving as fast as he can. It's a bumpy ride. Adam has his arms around Guthrie and me and is holding us close to him. I wrap my arms tightly around his waist.

* * *

Hannah runs out to meet us when Crane drives up to the house. Ford and Evan are already back and they run out to the porch. "Quickly, let's get them into the house where it's warm," she says. She lifts me out of the jeep, hugs me and kisses me, and carries me into the house. Brian and Adam help Guthrie out of the jeep and Adam carries him inside.

They put us on the couch and I can see Hannah has her first aid kit already opened and sitting out on the coffee table. "Let's get you two fixed up." She says smiling at us. She looks at Guthrie first. The jeans are ripped on the leg that hurts him. She cuts his pant leg open to get a better look. It's definitely swollen. "Boys, lets get some ice on this knee," she calls out. "I'm on it!" Evan says running into the kitchen.

"How is it?" Adam asks.

"Well, it's pretty swollen. But, it doesn't look like a break," she tells him. "You can stop pacing now," she adds, looking over at him and giving him a smile. He stops and stands still. All my brothers are just standing there watching. Except for Evan, he runs in with a bag of frozen peas. "Here you go Hannah," he says.

"One of you guys get over here and hold this on Guthrie's leg." Hannah calls out. Ford leaps over and takes the bag and sits down next to Guthrie. He holds the bag on Guthrie's knee. "Ow." Guthrie tries to yell, but I don't think he has enough strength to.

"Crane get two aspirin and some water. Evan get a bowl of warm water from the kitchen and some clean towels," Hannah calls out commands to my brothers. "Which one of you guys is gonna help me get Heidi cleaned up while I clean up Guthrie?"

Brian volunteers. He comes over to the couch and looks at the first aid stuff. "Uh, what do I do?" He asks.

"We need to get these cuts and scrapes cleaned out so they don't get infected. Evan where's that water?"

"Coming," Evan says, bringing the water and towels over. Crane comes downstairs with some aspirin and water for Guthrie. Hannah gives Brian a towel and demonstrates by cleaning one of Guthrie's scrapes. Brian takes the towel and dips it in the water. He rubs my chin with it. "Ow! That stings!" I cry out.

"Sorry kiddo, doctor's orders," he says, rubbing a little gentler. Every time he touches a scratch I jump and try to get away. "Quit squirming," he says while trying to hold me down. I can tell he doesn't want to hurt me but it stings really bad. When he gets to my knee I try to cover it with my hands. "No, please don't," I beg with tears in my eyes. "I have to. It'll sting for a little bit but then it'll feel better once I get the little rocks out and it's clean," he tells me while holding my hands with one of his hands and cleaning my knee with the other. It hurts really bad. I yell out in pain and start crying. Adam starts pacing again. When Brian is finished I look over at Guthrie and he looks tired. He's not crying out in pain, he's just sitting there. Hannah finishes cleaning up Guthrie and then she says, "time for the antiseptic."

"No!" I yell. I look at Guthrie, but he doesn't seem to care. "Hannah, please no. Before you came we just put a band-aid on and didn't clean our cuts or anything. We never got an infection. Right Guthrie?" I try to get him to come to my rescue but he just looks at me. I can see he's crying a little.

Hannah puts her hand on my cheek and looks into my eyes. "I'm sorry Heidi."

"You never had this many cuts before," Brian said. Hannah gives him the cotton balls and the antiseptic. "Sorry squirt." He says pouring some on a cotton ball. I bolt off the couch knocking the bottle out of his hand so it spills on the floor. I'm trying to get to the door, but with three other brothers standing around us that isn't gonna happen. "Oh no you don't," Adam says as he scoops me up and sits on the couch holding me. Brian is wiping up the spill. Well, it looks like no antiseptic.

Hannah pulls a second bottle of antiseptic out of her kit. "Always be prepared," she says handing the bottle to Brian. Adam is holding me tight so I can't move. Just like he does when I have to get a shot. Brian puts the antiseptic on and it stings. Worse than when it was getting cleaned. When he gets to my knee I try my hardest to get away but I can't and Brian dabs it on. He's done quickly but I keep on crying. It hurts bad. Adam just holds me quietly and kisses the top of my head. I look up at him, still crying and he looks down at me. He looks at me and it looks like he wants to cry with me. I think he feels sad when one of us is hurting. Kind of like he hurts too.

Daniel comes in the front door. He's back from bringing the horses to the barn.

"All done boys, and girl," Hannah says when the last bandage is on. "Let's get dinner on the table you all must be starved!" None of them had gotten to eat because they were out looking for us. "You two stay here and rest and we'll bring dinner out to you," she tells us.

"I'm gonna stay here for a while," Adam tells Hannah. She leans down to give him a kiss. "What would I ever do without you?" He says softly to her. "I'd prefer that you don't find out," she says sweetly, giving him another kiss. I smile at them. Adam smiles and watches her as she walks into the kitchen. Then he stretches out a little on the couch still holding me while being careful not to bug Guthrie. I lay my head on his chest.

He looks down at me. "How's your knee?" He asks. "It hurts a lot," I tell him. He wipes away the tears on my cheeks. He looks at me, and then Guthrie, and then back at me again and smiles. "You two are a mess," he says. I laugh a little. "Adam, do you think Guthrie and I will ever catch a bear?" I ask him. "I don't know. But I bet you're going to keep trying." I look over at Guthrie and see that he's asleep. I yawn. I'm tired too. Adam yawns too. "Will you tell me a story about the time you and Brian went bear hunting?" I ask. He stretches and holds me closer and says, "sure I can tell you a story about that." I snuggle in closer to listen. "One day when I was twelve and Brian was, oh let's say ten or eleven, we went on a big adventure to catch a bear..." And that was all I heard as I drifted off to sleep.


End file.
